Former Vietnam students give to Christchurch quake relief

A group of
Vietnamese who studied in New Zealand and graduated from New
Zealand universities between the late 1950s and 1975 has
raised over $62,000 to contribute to the Christchurch
earthquake relief fund. The contibution was handed over to
the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. Nathan Guy MP at
Parliament yesterday. The group are former Vietnamese
students who left Vietnam to study in New Zealand on a
scholarship programme under what was then known as the
Colombo Plan or as private students.

In a joint
statement (below), the group said they had spent their early
years in New Zealand and decided to establish a relief fund
to help the people of Christchurch.

Within a week, they
had collected over $62,000 from one hundred former students
and their families living around the world – in Australia,
Canada, Europe, Middle East, the United States and New
Zealand.

“We were given not only an education, but also
hospitality and love by the people of New Zealand. We have
been longing to have an opportunity to do something to
express our love and gratitude to the New Zealand people who
kindly and generously helped us in our education and
training and also instilled in us a sense of personal
responsibility,” the statement said. “We realise that
this is an insignificant amount of money compared with the
billions of dollars of damage caused by the earthquake.
However, with this token amount, we sincerely hope, as
members of the big New Zealand family, it can lend a hand
in soothing and comforting earthquake victims as they
rebuild their lives. “We pray that the people of
Christchurch will overcome their adversities, and quickly
recover to wrest back their city’s former beauty.” The
Colombo Plan’s purpose was to organise a cooperative
effort to develop the economies and raise the living
standards in the countries of South and South-East Asia.
Under the Plan, thousands of students from Southeast Asia
and South Asia were educated at international universities
and many have gone on to be leaders in their home
countries. The original members of the Colombo Plan were the
Commonwealth countries of New Zealand, Australia, Canada,
Ceylon, India, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. But the
Plan was extended to include Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam,
Japan, the United States, and Singapore.

PUBLIC
STATEMENT CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND DONATION FROM
A GROUP OF FORMER-COLOMBO PLAN AND PRIVATE VIETNAMESE
STUDENTS STUDYING IN NEW ZEALAND FROM THE FORMER REPUBLIC
OF VIETNAM

We are a group of former Vietnamese students
who received our higher education and training in New
Zealand from the late 1950’s to April 1975. We were
recipients of Colombo Plan Scholarships and also private
students.

The devastating images of the recent earthquake
in Christchurch, New Zealand, were shown on televisions and
internet sites around the world and struck us deeply in our
hearts The extensive damage caused by the earthquake
immediately compelled us to help the earthquake victims and
their families. We decided to establish a relief fund to
help the people of Christchurch. In just over a week, we
have pooled together approximately over NZ$62,000 from one
hundred former students and their families now living
around the world: in Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East,
New Zealand, and the US. We realize that this is an
insignificant amount of money compared with the billions of
dollars of damage caused by the earthquake. However, with
this token amount, we sincerely hope that we, as members of
the big New Zealand family, could lend a hand in soothing
and comforting earthquake victims as they rebuild their
lives.

We spent our early years in New Zealand and have
always had fond memories of the country and her people. We
were given not only an education, but also hospitality and
love by the people of New Zealand. We have been longing to
have an opportunity to do something to express our love and
gratitude to the New Zealand people who kindly and
generously helped us in our education and training and also
instilled in us a sense of personal responsibility. We pray
that the people of Christchurch will overcome their
adversities, quickly recover and wrest back their city’s
former beauty.

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